Welcome Back, Palmtop Tiger!
by Whatev3691
Summary: Taiga is back in time for the third year of high school with Ryuuji. How will she be welcomed back, and what will happen after? May end up as a one-shot. Picks up where the light novels end, which is all explained in the author's note.


_Hello! After abandoning it for a while, I make my return to FF!_

_A long time ago I had read a bunch of the Toradora! light novels but stopped for some reason. I recently rediscovered them and re-fell in love with them, finished them, and then watched the whole anime. After finishing the novels, I had a strong desire to write a Toradora story, so here it is. I can't promise that I can update this quickly, or that I'll even be able to continue it, being a busy college student. But it feels good to get this down, even if it ends up just being a one-shot._

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is based on the light novels, not the anime. However, there are only a few slight differences, and they are only in the end. Basically, in the books, before going to Ryuuji's grandparents' house, he and Taiga go to school for a day (Taiga's mom thinks it'll be her last day), but then escape hand-in-hand in the middle of class.

_Also, they end differently. In them, Ryuuji is heading to his first day of year 3 of school when Taiga returns, telling him she's rejoining their school, and they head off together. So this is picking up from there._

_Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!_

_Insert disclaimer here about me not owning Toradora and being a poor college student._

* * *

It was the best walk to school that Ryuuji ever had.

While it was true that the weather was nice, and he was looking forward to his last year of high school, and his hair wasn't looking _that _bad today, those weren't the reasons he was happy. The reason was the tiny hand he was tightly gripping in his own.

The hand belonged to the small, doll-like beauty walking next to him. She was talking on and on about her new brother, and how living with her mom was, and her new home, but Ryuuji wasn't really listening. He only had one thought on his mind, and it was causing him to tune out everything except the warmth of the feminine hand he was holding.

_Taiga is back._

* * *

"Hey Ryuuji, how do you think they'll react when they see me again?"

Taiga was looking at him with a slightly nervous expression on her face. They were approaching the gates of Oohashi High School, and she was showing some trepidation at the idea of returning to the school at which she had caused so much trouble the year before.

"Who do mean by 'they'?" Ryuuji asked. "Minori, Kitamura, and them?"

"Yeah, but also the rest of the class. After all, the last time they saw me was when we were sprinting out of class together…oh yeah, I wonder how Yuri-chan sensei's doing. Maybe she finally got a boyfriend…" Taiga snorted slightly at the idea, and Ryuuji temporarily felt bad for their perpetually single homeroom teacher.

"I think they'll just be happy to see that you're back," Ryuuji replied. "Things were pretty boring when you left. Oh, I forgot to tell you, the school decided that it would be better to keep classes together from year 2 to year 3 to keep the class dynamic instead of breaking them up, so our whole class is going to be the same as last year! It'll be like you never left," Ryuuji told her, smiling.

"I guess that means the stupid Chihuahua (Note: in Japanese, stupid Chihuahua is "Bakachi," so I'm going to use that from now on for convenience) will be there too, huh…" Taiga said, with a small smile on her face. "Oh well, I kinda missed having her to kick around anyway."

Ryuuji knew that Taiga and Ami had become quite close over the last year, despite the amount of time they spent bickering with each other, so he knew she was secretly glad that they'd be in the same class again. "We should go before we're late," Ryuuji said looking down at her.

She gave one short head nod, took his hand, and started walking towards the school with no sign of hesitation.

* * *

They were standing outside the door to class 3-C. The hall was pretty empty, due to the fact that Taiga and Ryuuji were cutting it very close to being late. It turned out they had spent too much time walking and talking, so most of the students were already in their classrooms. Ryuuji stood directly in front of the door, and Taiga was behind him.

"Ready?" he asked her.

She put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest. "Of course I am! It's not like we're entering a cage-fighting match, its just school! Although that does sound pretty fun…" she said with that glint in her eye that Ryuuji knew meant she was thinking fondly of something violent.

He sighed and slid open the door. Immediately all the heads in the room turned to look at him. Cries of "Takasu!" "Taka-chan!" and "Takasu-kun!" came at him from all sides. Haruta and Noto got up and headed towards him, Minori shouted something random as usual, and Kitamura looked up from his book and said, "Yo!" The others in the class, who had by now learned that despite his scary face Ryuuji was a nice, albeit slightly weird, guy, waved and greeted him. In all this commotion it was easy for Ryuuji to almost forget the girl standing behind him until…

"Ryuuji! Move it! What's taking you so long to walk one step, you stupid dog?" Taiga had kicked him in the small of his back so that he landed on all fours inside the room, looking like, coincidentally, a dog.

The room fell silent. Because of Ryuuji's obvious height advantage over her, the class hadn't been able to see her. Haruta's mouth dropped to the floor, and all around the room people's eyes widened.

"T-T-Taiga?" they shouted together.

Taiga threw her head back, stood in a menacing position, and looked around the room. "Oi, what are you all staring at like a bunch of idiots? I'm not some freak at a circus sideshow!" she yelled at them. Then she caught sight of Minori. "Minoriiiin! I'm back!" she said with a big grin on her face.

Minori gave a shrill war cry and leaped across the room to tightly embrace Taiga. "Taigaaaaa! I've missed youuuu! My bald wig fell in the toilet, and then the pudding got ruined when the snow suddenly turned pink, and…" Minorin started babbling her usual stream of incomprehensible nonsense while crying and spinning Taiga around the room.

While the two odd girls were having their personal reunion, the rest of the class was still in shock. Then they snapped out of it and ran over to Taiga and started bombarding her with questions and other sentiments. "Aisaka, I'm so glad you're back!" "Taiga-chan, it's been so boring around here without you!" "Will you be joining the karate club this time?"

As expected, Taiga didn't take to this attention too well, and cleared the area immediately around her with a spinning kick. Even those who had been directly hit by her kick were still smiling, saying, "All hail the return of the Palmtop Tiger!" Kitamura had wisely decided to stay in his seat, although he looked as happy as everyone else. Ami had also remained seated, and was filing her nails while smiling to herself. Taiga looked at everyone and said, "Yes I'm back. All other questions can be directed to Ryuuji."

Like wild hungry animals sensing the weaker of two prey, the class members honed in on Ryuuji. "Why didn't you tell us she was coming back?" "Takasu-kun, you're so selfish!" "You just wanted Taiga-chan all to yourself, didn't you?"

Ryuuji threw his hands up in self-defense. "I didn't know, I swear! Calm down all of you!" He tried using his menacing glare on them, but all it did was make a few of the more timid girls shudder. Ryuuji was starting to get tired of all the excitement, but just as he was about to try and escape the mass of jealous boys (first and foremost Haruta), Koigakubo Yuri (age 31, still single?) walked in.

"Good morning class!" she said cheerily. "Why is everyone out of their seats…" and then she saw Taiga. "A-A-Aisaka-san! You've returned!" She walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Just so you know, I forgive you for everything last year. The class just wasn't the same without you. Maybe you'll cause a little bit less trouble this year, ok?" she asked tentatively.

"No promises," Taiga answered with a smirk.

Yuri-chan sensei sighed and shrugged. "Oh well, it's not like I really expected much," she said. Then she clapped her hands twice and said, "ok class, settle down, I know you're all excited that Aisaka-san is back with us but it's time for homeroom."

Everyone ignored her.

She turned red and slammed her books down on her desk. "Oi, all of you! Listen to me and sit down. Stop flaunting your youth and energy in front of me! But I'm only 31, I'm still young, but still older than you! So listen!"

Everyone looked at each other and sat down, with the same thought running through their heads. _I guess that answers the question of whether she's still single or not._

Ryuuji and Taiga sat down next to each other, and shared a glance. It seemed like everything had returned to normal, even after all the craziness of the past year. Ryuuji turned his head to look at the rest of the class, and he could tell they still weren't really paying attention to Yuri-sensei. He gathered that they all were thinking the same exact thing that had made him so happy that very morning on the way to school.

_Taiga is back._

* * *

_Well, there it is! Should I continue or does it work better as a one-shot?_

_Please, please review! If you don't, I definitely won't continue. ;)_

_Thanks a lot!_


End file.
